


Meetings

by Hekate1308



Series: Balance and New Beginnings [24]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, M/M, season 12 au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 23:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10818672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: They try once more.They give Mary one more chance.





	Meetings

****

They decide to contact Mary separately since, as he tells Sam, “If we meet her at the same time, she’ll only focus on you anyway. She did that from the beginning. Guess she knew I was a lost cause.”

“Dean...”

“Hey, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Imagine her and John hunting together.”

“Nothing left alive” his brother replies lightly and they laugh.

“Wait, do we even still have her number?” Sam asks.

He never saved it in his new phone after he destroyed his old one because of that text she sent him about Dean.

“Mick remembers it. Apparently “memorizing contact data” was on their schedule too”.

“Of course it was”.

Sam was never put through any training, probably because they wanted the “stupid” hunters to stay exactly that.

“Dean” he says after a pause, “You know that... no matter what happens... No matter what she says...”

“Relax, Sammy, I know.”

“Yes, but I need you to hear it.”

Now more than ever.

He hasn’t forgotten why he left the bunker. He hasn’t forgotten why he summoned Crowley of all people, why he _had_ to find his brother or watch the man he thought he was slowly vanish in blood and pain and guts.

“Dean, I am on your side. Now and until we die. I should always have been.”

Dean looks down on the table.

“Sam –“                          

“No. I should have been, and I am.”

Their eyes meet again. Dean smiles.

 “Thank you”.

* * *

 

She knew this would happen. She knew they would eventually contact her.

Sam must have worked on Dean. Maybe he got him away from the angel and the demon once he realized what he’d done when he left.

_We need to talk.  
Dean. _

It’s far from the nervous question if he could still call her Mom, back when she had to take a little time for herself, but it’s better than nothing.

She decides not to tell Hess.

They are meeting in a small diner near their base – she’s unsure if Dean thinks it’s an insult or not. But then, they did rebuild it to show that not even the King of Hell scared them, so perhaps it a sign of respect.

He looks even better than she remembers. There’s a peace and happiness in his eyes she really hopes comes from finally seeing the light.

It’s a dirty work they’re doing, but they’re saving the whole world.

Sadly, she soon learns she was mistaken.

“Mary” he greets her calmly.

“Dean”.

She sits down.

“How are you?”

“I’m great. Thanks for asking. And you?”

“Our work continues to pile up.”

Why is he smiling?

“I know”.

“You wanted to talk?”

“Yes.”

He sits up and the atmosphere changes.

She realizes this is not a family reunion.

It’s a negotiation between members of enemy fractions.

“Mary. Are you aware what Hess and the Men of Letters are planning to do to us?”

“Of course. Your actions have not been... very helpful.”

They will, sadly, need to be punished, at least in Hess’ point of view. Mary thinks she might be able to sway some of the other Men of Letters who’ve recently arrived from the States. They’re still in awe of the Winchester’s reputation.

They’re not completely aware what her sons have done with it yet.

“They want to kill us, Mary. That’s all. They want to hunt us down like they hunt down monsters.”

She remembers that the word cost her the by that point very one-sided relationship with Sam and swallows.

“That – can’t be true. They know what you are – “

“Yes. In their eyes, traitors. And why? Because we’d prefer peace over genocide.”

“It’s not genocide” she replies, baffled.

How can he think that? They’re not harming humans. They are getting rid of those that hurt them.

“No? So you are not trying to eliminate certain racial groups you consider undesirable?”

“Dean, they’re monsters! They’re not... they’re not human. They’re nothing like us.”

Unexpectedly, he chuckles.

“I guess that’s true enough. You should see Al. Wonderful guy, but try to explain to him that dream hopping can – “

“Dream... Dean, what is he?”

Dean takes a sip from his glass – water, she notes.

“A djinn.”

“You’re friends with a djinn?”

She doesn’t know why it surprises her. Maybe she thought that the angel and the demon were enough monsters to leech off of Dean.

“For the record, he bakes a mean pie. But that’s not the point. This is it. Us or them. You’re with us or you’re against us. There’s no middle ground here.”

“Dean. Monsters are evil. They hunt us. They hurt us. They need to be destroyed.”

“And with how many monsters have you ever spoken?”

“I spoke with your angel and the King of Hell” she spits and regrets it immediately as his face falls.

“Cas is not a monster – and neither is Crowley. For that matter. You should know. You saw him save Cas’ life, remember? When you wouldn’t _give up a weapon_ to save us all.”

“Dean...”

“And then your friends turned him into a puppet.”

“We’re doing this for the good of the people – I’m doing this for you, Dean. For you and your brother.”

For a second, she reads something like disgust on his face. Then he calms down.

Not for the first time she asks herself if they perhaps... did something to him. Scrambled his mind. Made him forget right and wrong.

“I told you. They want to kill us. And we – we’re giving you a chance. A good chance. To change this world, but not through senseless killings. Human and monsters can find a balance. They can live together. It doesn’t have to be one side against the other, devouring each other for all time.”

“I don’t know you” is all she can say. “I don’t recognize my son in you.”

“Then maybe” he answers, standing up, “You should have tried to get to know him. Goodbye, Mary.”

He leaves her there without looking back.

She keeps sitting at the table, staring at the place her son has just vacated, until the waitress tries to cheer her up with “All men are idiots, honey” as if she’s a woman scorned by her lover.

She storms out.

It’s time to give up on Dean, she knows. There’s nothing of her beautiful, happy boy left. Nothing but an empty hull filled with the beliefs the angel and the demon have been whispering in his ears.

If only she’d come back years ago. If only she’d never died.

And yet, she still hopes. Hopes for a miracle.

And a day later, it seemingly occurs.

It’s Sam who wants to meet her, this time. And it’s actually a nice restaurant.

Maybe he noticed the changes in his brother. Maybe he realized his mistake.

Yet he opens the conversation with, “Why won’t you believe Dean?”

“How can I? He’s been under the influence of those... of his friends. And he’s not thinking clearly – “

“For a long time, he was the only one who did.”

“You can’t believe that.”

The year they spent together flashes before her eyes.

Sam, beheading vampires, setting wendigos on fire, helping her kill ghouls, always deadly, always reliable.

“What happened? Why did you leave?” she asks. Maybe, if she hears his reasons, she can make him see –

“Because I hated what I saw in the mirror. That wasn’t me. That was Dad.”

“Your father was a wonderful man.”

Sam sighs.

“Mom...”

“I was waiting for you to call me Mom”.

“Mary” he corrects himself.

“He might have been a good man once. I can’t say much about that. But if you really believe he stayed that way, you should have paid more attention to his journal.”

The diary of a broken, bitter man.

“He did what he had to do.”

“No, he did what he thought he had to do while Dean was left to look after me.”

“Sam...”

“No. Mom. Dean told you. They want to kill us.”

“Even if some of them do, you can reason...”

“No. What makes you think you can reason with them and not with monsters?”

“Monsters don’t think like us! They have a certain way they do things... call it instinct, magic, they will never change.”

“No” he suddenly agrees, looking into her eyes. “You’re right. Monsters never change.”

And with these words, he leaves her, just like Dean did.

She’s lost her family.

Again.

But still...

She can’t let anyone _hurt_ them. They’re her boys.

She marches into Hess’ office.

“What are you planning to do to them?”

“To who?”

“Don’t try to play games. My sons.”

She stands up.

“Your sons have become a liability. They are fraternizing with monsters.”

“I can make them – “

“Run away from you? That seems to be the one thing you have achieved so far.”

She has to think like them.

“In the beginning, you wanted us so you could influence American hunters. That didn’t work out. Fine. But if you go against them, there might be others who rise against you.”

“You really think so?”

“Why do you think the other hunters barely reacted to your offers? They do want a world without monsters, but not one without their legends.”

Certainly, certainly others must agree with her still. How could anyone believe monsters capable of making decisions like living in peace with humans? How could anyone believe her sons? How could anyone believe this... this... utopian idea?

Hess hums.

“You have a better idea?”

She hates doing this, but it’s necessary.

“Break them. Kill the angel and the demon. The monsters who made them what they are.”

It will hurt them, but it will be for the best.

“You think that will be enough?”

“I think it could be a start.”

“Mrs. Winchester, let me ask you a question. If it comes to it... Can you stand against your sons?”

She thinks about it. It’s painful, of course; but in many ways, Sam and Dean are not her sons. Not the babies she left behind, not the men they would have grown up to be if she had been there.

She has to get rid of those around them to ensure she can turn them into what they could be.

“Yes."

* * *

 

Sam doesn’t look good when he returns.

Dean has already gotten over it. Actually he had nothing to get over. He lost all confidence in Mary before he left.

He simply told Sam, kissed Cas, and played a round of pool with the guys.

Easy.

But Sam...

“Sammy?”

He hugs him.

A little too enthusiastically.

“Sam... need... air...”

“Sorry” he says, letting him go. “I just... it didn’t work.”

“I’m not surprised. To be honest, reaching out... it was more out of principle than anything else. Give her one last chance...”

“I know. I’m just – I’m glad I didn’t stay.”

“Me too.”

Dean smiles.

“Guess we just didn’t have the best parents.”

“I did. And they did everything for me”.

“Sammy...”

“Oh sorry, Moose, Squirrel, didn’t realize you were having a moment.”

“It’s alright, Crowley.”

He squeezes his brother’s shoulder.

There’s nothing more to say.

“Let’s just get everyone into the war room, alright? I think it’s time.”

Sam nods.

It is indeed time to take them down.


End file.
